Saoirse Ní Bhaoighealláin
We must realise the class first perspective of Aontacht’s theory has been largely speculative and uninvolved with the actual practice within the Marxist movement in Ireland. The Socialist Republican and Marxist Leninist parties and party like organisations have found themselves less involved in the basic organisation of the working classes than even the petite bourgeois socialist parties like People Before Profit and Socialist Party (now Solidarity).
Ireland’s mass organisations are in a state of crisis, the crisis of liberalism. Trade Unions refuse to drop the Labour Party, the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign is led by incompetent liberals, Rosa is the pinnacle of bourgeois feminism, Pride sponsored by Raytheon. Our genuine revolutionaries have completely failed in combatting this. Often taking approaches of self segregating refusing to touch the liberal orgs.
We on the republican left must be able to recognise where there is the ability for line struggle on the mass front.
For instance, after the government sent letters to 200 schools saying that they’d be cutting SNA allocation from September, the first protest to be called was by myself with the support of CATU South Ulster in County Cavan a fact which I am quite proud of. The protest would be attended by over 100 people where I’d lead with a speech challenging austerity and neoliberalism linking it back to the root cause which is capitalism. The major parties involved with this campaign have been in order: Social Democrats, Sinn Féin and People Before Profit but within Cavan while Sinn Féin and Fórsa were forced to play catch up with the communists
Unfortunately on the national scale neither CYM, CPI, Workers Party, Éirígí nor any other Marxist Leninist or Socialist Republican party/organisation besides one made a statement or attended the SNA cuts protests and none led the protests. This attack on workers rights and livelihoods has taken a back seat to strongly worded statements condemning Trump’s breach of international law of the week. The international solidarity movement is one of high importance but for a working class organisation it must be done so in tandem to the labour movement and tenants rights.
The one organisation which supported the SNA protests on the Socialist Republican sphere is James O’Toole’s Red Network who not just made statements but attended protests and made clear their support on the issue. Red Network may only have about 30 members but within that every single member is truly a worker involved in the workers struggle and for this they should be commended. In contrast we have one of the most ideologically advanced organisations the Connolly Youth Movement whose solid ideology is undercut by their largely petite bourgeois and student based membership.
Connolly Youth Movement can also be credited for their campaigns in building up the Independent Workers Union, the revolutionary answer to the liberal trade union movement. Taking a look at CYM’s website and social media however you see a large focus on international solidarity but very little about organising in the workplace this is a large fault of nearly every marxist party in Ireland but I fear we at Aontacht have been too quick to dismiss People Before Profit on the issue. While People Before Profit are bourgeois in ideology their position within the Dáil and involvement in trade unions (more out of being the largest socialist party rather than any actual focus) has caused them to spend more time focusing on workers struggles than the proletarian ideology parties.
After taking a break from politics in the first half of 2025 I redirected my entire political effort towards grassroots community organising efforts within my home county of Cavan. I started my efforts by involving myself in Cavan’s IPSC branch which I founded and getting involved in the Catherine Connolly campaign. I then found myself organising Cavan’s CATU branch which then merged with the Fermanagh/Monaghan branch to create CATU South Ulster. Most recently I started work on building Cavan’s first pride parade and the Save Our SNA’s campaign in Cavan/Monaghan.
This article is not meant to big myself up, I am far from perfect within my organising efforts I can only humbly suggest what I have found works in the context of rural organising. I am also chronically unemployed meaning I have only enjoyed brief opportunities to work within the labour movement organisation like with the recent SNA protests
Unfortunately regardless of talk the republican sphere seems largely dismissive of working within mass organisations. Many marxists will point blank refuse to work on IPSC which although a petite bourgeois organisation has allowed actual Palestine solidarity to happen in County Cavan. When organising we can not focus on ideological purity over the material conditions of the area you wish to organise. Before IPSC, CATU, Cavan Pride and Save Our SNAs Cavan lacked any left wing organisation beside Sinn Féin and Labour this is how I categorise my success.
The 1916 Societies is currently Ireland’s only example of a republican mass organisation. Its campaigns are often only truly focused on commemoration and remembering the historical struggle for Irish independence. Its inability to provide answers to the economic question has also at numerous times put it at risk of turning into reactionary nationalism. Many republicans have started to turn their backs to the Societies which has allowed this vacuum to worsen. It is vitally needed for the republican movement to engage in line struggle with this mass organisation to protect it from reactionary ideals and stop it from serving as a mere instrument of historical nostalgia rather than a revolutionary mass organisation striving for the independence of our nation.
If we the writers and readers of Aontacht want success then I propose we follow this line of organising. Meet the people where they are at, work within the mass organisations to advocate for the most radical line possible within the context of said mass organisation. If we do not organise in the mass organisations the liberals will. Line struggle is the path to victory for the 32 county democratic socialist Irish republic!